Contact Email

History

Author Content

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s budget director ordered a new revenue forecast Friday after state tax revenues fell $40 million short of projections in November, bringing them to $152 million below forecast since July and making it “very likely” state agencies will see across-the-board budget cuts. Gov. Jack Dalrymple attributed the weaker revenues to slumping crop and energy prices and said the state “is going to have to do a little belt-tightening going into 2016.”

BISMARCK – The head of the North Dakota National Guard has rejected a proposed lighting project at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the state’s adjutant general, said he met with project boosters Friday morning and informed them of his decision. “It doesn’t really fit with the ambiance, the reverence, the dignity of a cemetery,” he said, adding his staff researched the issue and couldn’t find another lighted veterans cemetery in the United States.

BISMARCK – A driver’s license is a valid form of voter identification if the North Dakota Department of Transportation has accepted a change of address, even if it’s not reflected on the license, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem found in an opinion issued Thursday. Burleigh County State’s Attorney Richard Riha requested the opinion after the state Legislature passed a bill in April clarifying the acceptable forms of voter ID, including a “current” driver’s license.

BISMARCK – People carry their mobile phones into churches, libraries and nearly everywhere else these days, but federal courthouses in North Dakota have always been a no-cell zone – just ask anyone who’s been told by security to walk their phone back to their car on a subzero day. That could soon change under proposed rules that would allow smartphones, tablets and other wireless communication devices in North Dakota’s four federal courthouses in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot.

BISMARCK – People carry their mobile phones into churches, libraries and nearly everywhere else these days, but federal courthouses in North Dakota have always been a no-cell zone – just ask anyone who’s been told by security to walk their phone back to their car on a subzero day. That could soon change under proposed rules that would allow smartphones, tablets and other wireless communication devices in North Dakota’s four federal courthouses in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot.

BISMARCK – A state lawmaker and Republican candidate for governor said Wednesday he’s drafting legislation to provide more protection for confidential informants, inspired by last year’s death of North Dakota...

BISMARCK – The state Emergency Commission narrowly granted a $240,000 request Tuesday so that Job Service North Dakota can remain fully staffed through an expected spike in unemployment insurance claims in January, but cuts are looming after that, the agency’s director said. Twenty employees already have taken voluntary buyouts this fall as the agency looks to cut costs to cover a $4.1 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, Executive Director Cheri Geisen said.

BISMARCK – Special waste landfills in North Dakota can start applying next month to accept radioactive oilfield waste, after a committee Monday adopted new disposal rules over warnings from opponents of a potential lawsuit and dangers to the environment and public health.

BISMARCK – The North Dakota Highway Patrol posted an armed trooper at a desk right outside the governor’s office Friday, but a spokesman said the decision to do so was made in mid-November and is not a response to the nation’s recent string of mass shootings. Lt. Tom Iverson said the patrol converted one of its seven civilian Capitol security staff positions to a sworn trooper position last month.

BISMARCK – A long-term highway bill passed by Congress this week contains more than $1.3 billion for North Dakota and gives the green light to more than 100 transportation projects that were at risk of going unfunded, officials said Friday. The House and Senate both voted Thursday to pass the bipartisan Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which authorizes $305 billion in spending over the next five years and streamlines the project approval process to reduce delays.